A moment to rest

[ACMI: The Thing You Lost]

The ambulance arrived shortly and the boy, who had introduced himself as Gunha, helped Joule and the medics get the two injured girls into the back. While Joule was going to go along with them to the hospital, Gunha stayed behind.

"I'm going to go look for the other girl you told me about."

Joule had tried to fill him in on most of what had happened, other than the bits that were private of course.

She sat in the back with Hokaze and Yumiya. The former was suffering from exhaustion while the latter...

The ghost girl and Joule watched as the Medic did a blood test. They had jumped to do it the moment Joule even mentioned there had been an injection gun.

"The results will take a bit to get back." The medic reassured Joule alone, being unable to see the ghost girl "We'll be able to treat them by the time they get to the hospital.

Indeed, when the two girls were wheeled out to bring them to their beds, the frog-faced doctor was already there with the results.

"You'll be happy to know that I didn't find any of that poison you mentioned in her body."

Joule hesitated "Wait, why not? She did get injected with something after all."

The doctor shook his head "Well, there's the mystery isn't it. We're currently sweeping her blood for non-toxic compounds but nothings-"

"Doctor, new results from the lab."

The doctor gave Joule a smile before looking at the results.

There was a pause as he raised an eyebrow.

"I think this should only be explained once, who else would want to hear this?"

It took about half an hour for Shokuhou to get from where she was to the hospital. In that time, Misaka and Shirai had also dropped by via teleportation.

"I've actually been here all day." Shirai admitted as they all sat in the waiting room outside the doctor's office "A member of Judgement is in Shokuhou's clique. I came to check up on them."

"And when you called me," Misaka continued the story "I called her and she brought me here too."

"Can we hurry this along?" Shokuhou noted "I want to learn what's been going on around me."

Ghost girl was with the telepath and trying to comfort her but she was still annoyed. She wanted the answer to everything just as much as Joule did.

Finally, the four of them were called in and they all stood around as the doctor explained what he'd found.

"There were two compounds found in Miss Yumiya's bloodstream. Likely the 'poison and antidote'."

"The way you said those..." Joule noted "Was there something special about them."

The doctor nodded and pulled over a piece of paper.

"The first, and the one that's more prevalent in her body, is this: It's a common painkiller. That's it."

"A painkiller?" Shokuhou looked at him "And you set there's a lot of it, is there any danger-"

"No danger of an overdose." The doctor calmed her "It was messured quite well as far as I can see, much like the second drug. This one was also found in her stomach so it would be the one she ingested."

Or rather, the ghost girl had possessed her to ingest.

"It's a fairly standard sleeping drug. Based on body mass, she'll probably stay asleep for the next 12 hours."

"So... neither was harmful?" Joule needed to ask once more for clarification.

The doctor nodded.

"Miss Yumiya's life was never in any danger."

With that out of the way, the other injured girl came up.

"And now for Miss Hokaze."

At once, everyone's focus was on the doctor again.

"The woman of the hour put herself through a lot. Her ability was being taxed and it's clear that some of her muscles didn't heal properly. From what we have on record about her ability though, she'll be able to fix that when she wakes up."

Shokuhou nodded "She might have some headaches but I can help with that. I've seen her do it before."

The doctor smiled "It's good that you have each other to rely on in times like this."

Misaka and Shokuhou gave each other a dark look but the doctor continued.

"I expect her to wake up a little bit earlier."

So they had until tomorrow then.

Everyone went their own ways and Joule was left sitting with Misaka and Shirai.

Shirai looked to be deep in thought about something as Joule once again went over the whole story for Misaka. Once it was done, Misaka tried to work through what it all meant.

"So... somethings really going on with Shokuhou's group. This stuff about a ghost girl-"

Said girl had gone to Hokaze's bedside and apparently intended to stay there until she woke up.

"-and the kidnapping of a level 5. We know Yumiya was involved in the latter along with that ninja-like girl you mentioned... but how does that connect to the ghost?"

They had gone over the fact that she was an AIM being but calling her a ghost was easier.

Finally, Shirai spoke up "There was something strange about the interrogations of the people helping Yumiya. They all said that they'd be pushed to take part in the activity because of their respect or admiration towards Shokuhou."

"Hold on, that doesn't make sense." Misaka pointed out "You told me the sorts of things they did. That fake ghost attack, stealing Shokuhou's bag. Those aren't things you do to someone you like."

"That depends how you like them." Shirai looked away "The person behind the ghost attacks was jealous of people getting close to Shokuhou. The person who stole her bag was similarly devoted."

Misaka shook her head, but this time it was in confusion.

"I don't get it."

Regardless, everyone went their own ways. These questions could be answered when Yumiya woke up.

End of chapter.

Yes, the poison was fake.

I might be sounding like a broken record at this point but I wonder what the thoughts are of those who haven't read AB.